


Pyrotechnics

by theplanetmarz



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Betrayal, Crying, Gen, Minor Violence, Not Beta Read, Video Game Mechanics, idk what else to tag, might add more tags idk lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27057928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theplanetmarz/pseuds/theplanetmarz
Summary: “Tubbo-Tubbo-”“Yeah?” the teen’s voice is dry, wavering.“I know what you’ve been up to.” Schlatt leans down, so he can look in at Tubbo, there is nothing behind his ruby, gazing stare.--the festival and the execution that takes place there
Relationships: and if you take anything i write as shipping i will Commit A Crime, dont ship irl people - Relationship
Comments: 10
Kudos: 122





	Pyrotechnics

“So with that in mind, I’d like to thank everyone for coming to this wonderful event!” 

Schlatt chuckles. 

Tubbo, lowering his arms from his last _‘hurrah’_ at the end of his speech, turns, tilting his head, “What’s wrong, Schlatt?” 

Schlatt lulls his head lazily, flicking his hand up in a circular, pondering motion, “Nah it’s just funny-I was just thinkin’ about it, Tubbo. You know we like to have fun. You got anything else in the speech?” 

Tubbo stutters out a few words, before nodding, and turning his attention back to the podium and crowd. “Uh, no, on that note, let the festival begin!” 

In an instant, before he could figure out what was happening, Tubbo was trapped. 

Bright yellow walls made of concrete stand beside him, accompanied by the cool cobblestone roof overhead; an oaken fence stops him from escaping, he can’t climb it. The box is tiny, only enough room for him to move forwards or backwards. 

His stomach plummets. _This isn’t possible, no, this is a joke. Schlatt’s a jokester, he’s joking!_

Peeking out from the box, Tubbo stares out at the crowd, barely anyone's reacts, only Niki looks worried, muttering something to herself. There’s a quick movement on the roof of the building by the stage, Tommy and Wilbur crouch atop, watching the scene. 

The trapped boy silently pleads they’ll do something. 

“ _Schlatt_?” his voice is shaking, peaking with a couple of brittle laughs. Schlatt hums to himself, “We like to have fun around here, don’t we?” 

Tubbo couldn’t help but let his mouth hang open a bit; too much was happening. He had a white-knuckled grip on the fence before him, trying to lean over to see what was going on. “ _Schlatt?_ ” 

“Tubbo, I’ll cut to the fuckin’ chase, alright?” His words are suddenly made of ice. Quackity chants some word of encouragement to the president, clearly unaware of the panic he was causing. 

“Tubbo I-” he scoffs, voice back to professional, respectable, and appears in front of Tubbo’s confine, shaking his head, “And I mean it, it really sucks for me to say this, right here in front of everybody, it’s kind of awkward, really-” 

He gestures grandly to the onlookers. Tubbo strains, to stare out, suddenly hearing a faint and teary “ _Just let him out, Schlatt”_ from Niki. Even Tubbo can see how much she’s shaking, but alas, he himself isn’t much better. 

“Tubbo-Tubbo-” 

“ _Yeah_?” the teen’s voice is dry, wavering. 

“I know what you’ve been up to.” Schlatt leans down, so he can look in at Tubbo, there is nothing behind his ruby, gazing stare. 

“Wha-What’ve I been up to-” Tubbo tries to laugh, tries to lie, but he’s always been terrible in the face of authoritarian pressure, “What are you on about?” 

Schlatt crouches down, just below eye level of the boy, _“‘What’ve I been upto?’”_ he repeats, laughing. It’s not a chuckle this time; it’s a dirty guffaw. He rises, turns his back to the boy, and finishes off his laugh to the audience. 

“You’ve been _conspiring_ ! With the idiots- with the-with the _tyrants_ , we kicked outta this server, that we kicked outta this great country!” Schlatt isn’t sugar-coating his persona anymore. His body is tense as he paces across the stage, one hand is pointed upwards to the sky in absolute anger. Even Tubbo can see the spit fly from his mouth as he shouts; as he screams. 

Schlatt continues, but Tubbo can’t hear him. 

The beating in his ears is deafening, his breath is like a fire alarm in the dead of night. He tries to steady himself, holding onto the fence before him as he teeters back and forth; _god, he’s gonna fucking pass out._ The world is blurry as he tries to suck back tears; his face already soaked with dripping sweat. 

“Tubbo,” the world suddenly focuses again, the boy snapping his head up to look at his captor, who’s staring down at him once again, “I don’t know if you know this but-uh- _treason_ , isn’t exactly-uh, isn't exactly a _respectable_ thing around here.” Schlatt is spitting words aimed to him; like he’s _disgusted_ by the boy. He _is_ disgusted by the boy. 

I know what you’ve been doing, _buddy_ , it all adds up,” the man begins counting on his fingers. Tubbo can’t tell if it’s to mock him or to intimidate him, but either reason is working, "the fucking _tunnels_ , your-your _absence_ from _great events_ \- I mean- you- you walked off in the middle ‘a this one! You walked off in the middle of this one, _Tubbo.”_

He says _‘Tubbo’_ as if it’s a curse word; like it leaves a bitter taste on his tongue. 

“Don’t try and tell me you’ve done nothing wrong. Because everybody knows it. I sees it with my own two _fuckin’_ eyes, what you’ve been doin’.” 

In his frenzied anger, Schlatt is pointing, twirling; he’s overcome with nothing but malice. 

He takes a second to collect himself, Tubbo watches as he straightens his tie and cuffs. 

“Do you know what happens to traitors, Tubbo?” 

Tubbo cowers, standing as far back in his box as he can, “No?” 

Schlatt leans into him, _“Nothing good.”_

He’s treating this like it’s nothing, like the child before him isn’t trembling in fear, on the verge of tears and nervous vomiting. 

He calls into the crowd, “Hey Technoblade.” 

The world goes deaf again for Tubbo, the symphony of pure anguished anxiety returning to his brain. 

The walls are shrinking, everything's going dark. 

_Did Schlatt make this whole thing just to...to expose him? To humiliate him?_

_His mind raced, he’d decorated and planned this all, he’d made the invitations, he’d been excited for this._

_Did Schlatt make him decorate and organize his own banishment? His own...execution? His own funeral?_

_Did Tubbo assemble his own death?_

A dark shadow looms over Tubbo, dragging him from his mind. He’s back in the present. 

Technoblade. 

He looks around the scarred warrior before him, making direct eye contact with Wilbur on the roof. Wilbur’s face reads nothing, he’s blank, a look Tubbo has gotten much too used to. 

There’s not even a speck of panic or desperation in his eyes, nor a worried twitch of the lip, nothing, just cold observation. 

Tommy is by the edge, crossbow drawn, ready to shoot someone; ready to shoot Techno, his ally. It’s abundantly obvious how stressed Tommy is, even from this distance, Tubbo can see the glistening tears running down his friend’s face. 

“Tubbo, as enemy of the state, and perpetrator to these-uh-awful, awful people you helped...Technoblade, please,” the president courtesies away from the mild block he put between the two, “Please, please, if you would, if you would be so kind.” 

Techno stares at Schlatt. 

Though his voice is monotone, face fairly similar, Tubbo can see from his upturned eyebrows and plastic smile: he’s confused as hell. 

“What-What are you asking Schlatt?” 

The ram-horned man places a crossbow in the man’s arms. _“Take care of him.”_

The message clearly made it to the pig-eared man, but he shakes his head, plaster smile nearly cracking as he widens it. 

He tries to banter, acting like he doesn’t know what he means. _Breakfast, right?_

Tubbo watches him carefully, trying to convey his urgency just by making eye contact. 

Deep breaths, he steadies his body; _it’s gonna be okay._

_Tommy will shoot to distract, he won’t actually kill Techno. If anything, Techno will shoot Schlatt, grab him, and they’ll run off to Pogtopia._

_It’s going to be fine, he’s not going to die._

_“Techno, I need you to take him out. You’re gonna kill him. I need you to kill him, right now.”_

An exhale. 

Tubbo lets go of the fence. He looks up from his feet; Techno’s crossbow is pointed directly between his eyes. Luckily, it’s not loaded.

An unlikely candidate, Quackity, appears beside the Blade, trying to push him away, to no avail. “Hey-hey guys wait-” 

Schlatt suddenly shoves Quackity to the ground. He scrapes his hands and cheek, after sliding sideways, from what Tubbo can survey. 

Schlatt’s eyes are solid bricks of coal. 

_“Kill him right now, on this fucking stage! And make it hurt!”_

Techno is shuddering; something Tubbo’s never seen him do before. 

Come to think of it, Tubbo’s never seen that glassy expression in his eyes before. 

Fear. 

He’s never seen Technoblade show fear. 

There’s minor protests from the crowd, Fundy is a surprising addition, Tubbo didn’t think he’d ever stand up to Schlatt in any sort of way. Niki is crying out too, begging for Techno to show mercy. 

_He will, he has too. Techno is his friend._

_“There are no fucking traitors in my goddamn country, you kidding me-"_

The crowd hushes, except Niki, who’s still yelping. 

Schlatt’s voice suddenly softens. He turns to look back at Tubbo. 

They stare into each other's soul.

“My right hand man-” he looks…sad, “I’d rather rule alone, than with _you_. You fuckin’-” 

Schlatt turns away, quickly wiping his eyes off with his arm. _Was he crying?_

“Schlatt-Schlatt are you sure-listen-” Quackity is back on his feet, cautiously moving back towards his co-ruler, “We-we have him trapped, he’s jailed, I think-I think that's enough for-uh-breaking the constitution.” 

The young man’s voice is trembling. Even he, the closest to the ruler, has never seen him act this way, quite this evil; quite this _tyrannical_. 

“It’s not enough.” Even just the step that Schlatt takes towards Quackity is enough to send him cowering backwards. 

“Are you sure? He’s...he’s jailed. Schlatt he’s a kid-” 

“ _Technoblade_ ,” the ram crushes off his co-president’s concerns, the mercy he shows is useless, “you gonna do it?” 

Techno loads the bow. 

Schlatt is smiling again, his horrifying power of emotional reserve on display. He’s cheering cockily at Techno, telling him to make Tubbo an _example_. 

_It’s fine. It’s gonna be fine._

Tubbo smiles gently at his friend. “Techno?” 

Techno suddenly punches the boy, sending him backwards. 

Tubbo can’t form words, can’t think of anything to say. What even is there to say? 

Techno just...punched him. 

And it wasn’t any sort of ‘warning’ punch either; the kid’s lip is bleeding. 

“Tubbo,” Techno’s worried eyes have turned to gunmetal, “Tubbo, I’m sorry.” 

Tommy’s scream sounds from atop the building. Tubbo quickly spies Wilbur tackling the crossbow away from him, before holding him back from running. He’s tremoring, face blotchy and red, snotty and teary. 

“I’ll make it as painless as possible.” 

The pink-haired bowman’s usually monotone voice crackles, just for a second, shuttering. 

Tubbo’s voice is nothing but a whisper, “What the hell?” 

“Tubbo, I’m sorry.” 

Tubbo felt a searing pain bust through his chest.

Everything’s red, white and blue.

Miraculously, after being shot in the chest with a firework, he’s still alive. 

Nothing’s in the boy’s brain, just that he’s hurt. 

_It hurts so fucking much, it burns._

He stumbles backwards, using the sides of the confined space to try to steady him, slumping slightly against the back wall. Gently, he brushes his fingers against his chest; it’s warm and wet, and when he looks at his fingers, they’re red. 

His nearly melting eyes gaze in absolute horror at the man before him. 

_Techno was his friend, but yet, he had a tiny smile on his face._

Whether it was nervous or genuine, Tubbo didn’t care to know. 

Techno cocks the crossbow again. 

Tubbo opens his mouth to scream, protest.

_Stop it! Please!_

Techno shoots again. 

Tubbo screams, feeling the explosive detonate against him again; feeling it detonate inside his chest.

He swears he can hear Tommy yowl his name. 

Everything goes dark. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> hey friendly reminder that i dont write actual death for cc's, and that this is in a minecraft server, just written kinda realistically 
> 
> speedran this lmao  
> \--  
> kudos and comments appreciated :]


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